There is a long list of states currently suing Trump, everywhere with military bases has grounds to defend the military against presidential appropriations. He's dipping into the pork barrel, and every congresscritter has some pork they'd really rather not lose.

If they were willing to let Trump grab power to get out of a self-inflicted political bind, they can hardly clutch their pearls when he does it merely to save his poor ego. It's also rich, these Republicans suddenly becoming afraid of what the justices they appointed might do.

True enough; but this time he hasn't grabbed some perk they can ignore or take back as pleases them. He's claiming the power to rewrite the budget Congress passed to fund whatever he wants without regard for what they wanted. They have all but no power worth discussing if he gets away with that.

I think most of them would be fine with that as long as a Republican is in the White House, and perfectly happy to use it to scream "tyranny!" if a Democrat ever tries it. It's as though they have stopped caring about anything that happens in the real world as long as they can gin up campaign donations.

I suppose it could be that some of them figure "We found ourselfs sitting on a tiger, now we better ride it" but are still weary to remove anything that is like reins or a saddle.

And i suppose "The democrats have sabotaged our stable genius leaders plans" is a much better battlecry for them, then "We have the wall, now our imigration problems are solved" or "Now that we have the wall, we also need police llamas* to be realy secure".

I think most of them would be fine with that as long as a Republican is in the White House, and perfectly happy to use it to scream "tyranny!" if a Democrat ever tries it. It's as though they have stopped caring about anything that happens in the real world as long as they can gin up campaign donations.

I've heard a recent Republican campaign donation spiel. They're worried that a Democraticly-controlled House will return the economy to the 'dark days of high unemployment and sluggish economy under Obama' and that the jobs are coming back to the US (they're not..) and don't believe the liberal media about Trump. Really, anyone who doesn't think he's an idiot already is going to be swayed by things like that ridiculous sing-song delivery he's done a time or two.

Cadet Bonespurs is in Vietnam, and just 45 years after American troops left for good. Now for two many points, how long will it take before he uses that to try to counter the fact that he dodged the draft?

I can't help but be a slightly disappointed in Cohen's testimony to Congress. He did provide the receipts to show that Trump paid him back for the Stormy Daniels hush money, but he didn't have any documents to show that Trump knew about the Wikileaks hacks, nor did he have any paperwork to show he was still negotiating with the Russians on Trump Tower Moscow while Trump was the Republican nominee. He didn't even have the paperwork to show that Trump used his charity to buy his own portrait. The rest of his testimony and evidence merely confirmed what we already know - that Trump is a horrible person.

So Manafort got off lightly today with a judge obviously sympathetic to white collar criminals who are old and rich and white and Republican. "Led an otherwise exemplary life" my arse. As a paid apologist for dictators. We can hope the next judge isn't such a hack. Although if I were a conspiracist, I would say that this is the Russian mob's way of repaying him for his loyalty.

We can hope. Btw; shortly after Cohen mentioned playing games with insurance, New York went after Trumps insurance broker. If it happened that Trump told the tax men and the insurance underwriter different numbers, then he's guilty of at least one felony...and New York has their own copies of his tax returns.

As an aside, can Trump do anything as President to suppress state level investigations into him and his family by say, getting his Justice Department to fire U.S. Attorneys? Sessions sacked Preet Bharara in 2017 but that was due to the change of administration so it was seen as acceptable. Can Barr fire one out of the blue now?

As an aside, can Trump do anything as President to suppress state level investigations into him and his family by say, getting his Justice Department to fire U.S. Attorneys? Sessions sacked Preet Bharara in 2017 but that was due to the change of administration so it was seen as acceptable. Can Barr fire one out of the blue now?

In theory he could sack the head of SDNY; but there's nothing he can do about New York State going after him (they're the ones who started investigating insurance fraud). As for could he sack the head of SDNY in practice? Even his pretend lawyers would pretty much have to make it clear to him that it would be blatant obstruction of justice to do so at this point, and it probably wouldn't work anyway. So it's tricky. And it wouldn't stop SDNY from pressing charges against him and his family unless he can put some blatant stooge in charge, and I believe the Senate would need to sign off on that...and they're getting a bit antsy about that sort of thing (too many of the Senators need to get reelected in places where that particular crime would not help).

Feh. Only another 3.5 years for Manafort. At least New York is doing what it can to stop him from wriggling away with a pardon. Given his age, health and status, he'll probably get out after serving less than half his sentence. Wouldn't be surprised if he does no more time than Michael Cohen. Trump's other lackeys must now be thinking, why cooperate with prosecutors when judges will give you a slap on the wrist?

The Feds don't believe in parole. Unless he gets pardoned, Manafort will do 7.5 years. And I believe right before the second judge sentenced him she signed the order taking away many millions of dollars of his ill gotten gains. All in all not what one of the lords of creation would be looking forward to, even if it's not a bullet behind the ear and a bill to the family for the bullet.

I was kind of amused (in a wry way) that right after some underling sent an obviously ghost written statement of support for New Zealand in his name, Trump himself went out of his way to make sure everyone understood he didn't mean it in an actual disapproves of white folks shooting minorities kind of way. At least he's consistently racist and offensive.

Being offensive to anyone not straight, white or male and kissing Putin's butt are the only two things Trump is ever consistent about. I mean, he has just proposed to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid after promising the opposite during his campaign. Will his base notice or care? Noooooo... He'll probably flat out deny it if he's pressed, and they'll find some sort of convoluted excuse to believe him. They're like 9 year-olds who'll put themselves through all sorts of mental gymnastics concerning the magical warping of space and time so that they can continue to believe in Santa Claus, if Santa Claus was racist. Even the shutdown didn't do any permanent damage to his approval rating.

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